{"id":14678,"date":"2013-03-19T10:52:12","date_gmt":"2013-03-19T15:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?p=14678"},"modified":"2017-01-24T17:20:35","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T22:20:35","slug":"what-would-the-desert-fathers-think-of-pope-francis-blessing-the-disabled-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2013\/03\/what-would-the-desert-fathers-think-of-pope-francis-blessing-the-disabled-man.html","title":{"rendered":"What Would the Desert Fathers Think of Pope Francis Blessing the Disabled Man?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Agape in action.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Surely you\u2019ve seen the video of Pope Francis stopping his ride into St. Peter\u2019s Square so he could give a blessing. Deacon Greg<\/a> shared it earlier,<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\n<p>\u2026and it\u2019s going viral like the fire in Chicago after Mrs. O\u2019Leahry\u2019s cow kicked over her lantern.<\/p>\n<p>And rightly so.<\/p>\n<p>In one of my first blog posts, I shared how much I admired the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and how they helped me swim the Tiber. When I saw Pope Francis stop and dismount from his vehicle this morning, and bestow that loving blessing on our brother and his fellows, I remembered the following saying,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A monk once posed this question to an elder: There are two brothers, one of whom remains praying in his cell, fasting six days at a time and doing a great deal of penance. The other one takes care of the sick. Which one\u2019s work is more pleasing to God? The elder replied: If that brother who fasts six days were to hang himself up by the nose, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-the-desert-fathers-and-mothers.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">he could not equal the one who takes care of the sick<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Often times, the best lessons on leadership are taught by example. Pope Francis is leading, and even if his actions remind me my own unworthiness and shameful lack of agape, I intend to follow his example.<\/p>\n<p>Because his example is Jesus Christ\u2019s example, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Luke%2024:32&version=NRSVCE\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">it leaves my heart burning within me<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Surely you\u2019ve seen the video of Pope Francis stopping his ride into St. Peter\u2019s Square so he could give a blessing. Deacon Greg shared it earlier,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[232,36,41,37],"tags":[1021,208,499,31,59,1007,837,1023,1022],"class_list":["post-14678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-learning","category-living","category-praying","category-working","tag-agape","tag-charity","tag-corporal-spiritual-works-of-mercy","tag-in-the-news","tag-love","tag-pope-francis","tag-the-desert-fathers","tag-the-poor","tag-the-sick"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Would the Desert Fathers Think of Pope Francis Blessing the Disabled Man?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Surely you've seen the video of Pope Francis stopping his ride into St. Peter's Square so he could give a blessing. 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